A system budget in a communication system may specify allowable performance characteristics, e.g., jitter, noise, distortion, etc., for the communication system. The communication system typically includes a transmitting device, a communications link (that may include one or more channels) and a receiving device. A portion of the system budget is allocated to each component. Testing is typically performed on each component of the communication system individually to determine and/or confirm that the component operates within its respective portion of the system budget. In this testing, performance characteristics are assumed for upstream components when testing downstream components. For example, conventional channel testing typically assumes a transmitter with a specified jitter characteristic. Actual transmitter impairments may include jitter, noise and/or distortion. Thus, such testing may over-estimate or under-estimate actual transmitter performance characteristics when determining the system budget.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art.